Music Opens Your Eyes If You Let It

Memories in the Music

Lately I’ve stopped using the TV for background noise, and gone back to my old, faithful standby; music. Over time, I learned what inspired rather than distracted, and have set up Pandora stations accordingly. My go-to for writing is usually Simon and Garfunkel, and occasionally, Chuck Mangione when I’m more inclined to sing along with the old songs than write, thus requiring tunes with no words.

Recently, I started thinking about how many of those songs I can still sing in their entirety from memory, and frankly, the list was staggering. Even more astounding is that the ones I remember best are at least 50 years old! It leads me to believe my memory of song lyrics is directly connected to a time of both innocence and turbulence. Or could the answer be even simpler?

The songs of the 50s, 60s, and early 70s were penned by poets for the most part. They were filled with passion and angst; the early beginnings of a world being split wide open to new ideas, paradigms, and eventually, a new world order.

Stories Waiting Decades to be Understood

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When I listen to songs like “Sounds of Silence”, or “Blowin’ in the Wind’, I ask myself; How did they know where the world was going, and how lost and disconnected we’d become? How do words penned and put to music decades ago give me chills now, knowing what they predicted has come to pass; has become the twisted reality from which springs hate, and a desperate struggle to cling to old ways that weren’t great in the first place?

Singing the songs I thought so innocent 50 years ago, I’m left wondering if they planted seeds in my brain back then. Did they prime the pump, so to speak so I’d begin to see the inequities, the putrid mess bubbling beneath a surface of civility, ready to explode with the right provocation. Or did it inure me to the suffering of huge swaths of people whose voices were stifled or silenced by those who chose to believe the power hungry rather than do the research, and think for themselves?

Even now, as we see many of those voices refusing to remain silent, the balance of power is shifting, and it’s not going quietly. Opposing viewpoints fight to build support from people like me who are empathetic, yet oblivious. Their suffering has long been stuffed into a locked closet where history is rewritten to obliterate not only the abuse they’re subjected to, but the contributions they’ve made.

Giving the World Back to the Masses

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In my opinion, too many groups of people have been marginalized, if not erased for the convenience of an elite few. Blacks, women, LGBTQ, Asians, Moslems…the list goes on and on.

Anyone who isn’t a White, Christian male is subject to obliteration because their wants and needs; the things they consider important conflict with those which hold an old, outdated version of superiority and sovereignty up to the harsh light of day, and find it lacking in the most fundamental, and conspicuous of ways.

Basic human dignity, equal treatment under the law, health, welfare, education…again, the list goes on; are all considered due and payable, as long as you are White, male, and Christian. I’m reminded of a line from Orwell’s “Animal Farm”:

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

I suspect it was no accident Mr. Orwell chose pigs to make this proclamation.

Changing the World One Small Act at a Time

There are some who might find my words here hypocritical because I’ve never taken part in any of the marches; never put my life, health, or reputation on the line for someone who’s been treated inequitably, and have lived a fairly privileged life overall. To you, I say, there are many ways to fight the fight, and we all have to do so as fits our own abilities, and lives.

Perhaps speaking out in print is considered cowardly from where you sit, but I ask you to think about the many who have, over the years, used their words; their voices, rather than their bodies to make a point, and more importantly, to make people think, and see it’s time to remove the rose-colored glasses, and see the filth lurking beneath the smiling faces, and whitewashed history.

Looking back, I realize that’s exactly what the musicians and poets of the 50s, 60s, and 70s were doing in their own, more subtle fashion. they spoke of things we were prevented from seeing; the lies we were told, and fingers pointed in the wrong directions.

Removing the Blinders

Photo – AЯMEN via Flikr

I think they knew we wouldn’t understand more than a small, nearly insignificant part of the smoldering mess that’s our true history; the history of humanity overall, but that eventually, a time would come when at least some of us we were ready to listen; to believe.

When we did, the music would still be there. The words would make more sense. Our place in altering a non-inclusive trajectory would become more clear.

The time has come. I’m chilled to the bone by the lyrics I remember so well they seem embedded in the cells embodying my physical brain. The future they predicted when the lies were exposed; when desperation led to horrific acts, and to disconnection created to keep the less equal animals silent and pacified started balancing the power, and opening the eyes, if not of the many, at least of some who were willing to take action, each in their own way, space, and time.

Reclaim Communication

Communication is often reduced to text, email, DM; methods which remove our humanity, subtler means of communication like body language and voice tone, and something we desperately need in these crazy times; connection. In the words of Simon and Garfunkel:

People talking without speaking

People hearing without listening

People writing songs that voices never shared

And no one dared

Disturb the sounds of silence

One thing is for certain, you can’t fight the old guard on their own turf, with their own weapons. You can refuse to allow the disconnection to continue, and to communicate in ways that fly under their radar; ways they don’t even consider because they go against the plan they, alone created, and control.

It’s time to make meeting in person normal again. To turn communication back into a two-way street where you listen as much, or more than you talk. Open your heart, your mind, and your ears without judgement, analysis, or frozen beliefs.

Together, We Can Stop the Madness

Photo – Ky via Flikr

Allow yourself to be appalled, and outraged. Then figure out what you can do to help, and do it. Or prepare to be further controlled, and for what means of communication you currently retain to be further sanitized or curtailed.

Desperate men will do horrific, unconscionable things to maintain the status quo which only benefits a select few, and a few who don’t deserve special treatment in the first place. If you ask me, believing they are above the law, and have the right to abuse people unlike themselves is the first step in their ultimate downfall, but only when we’re tired of the ugliness, the hate, and the disconnection they perpetuate.

Grateful for My Own Place in History

My gratitudes today are:

1. I’m grateful I listened carefully to the songs I grew up on.
2. I’m grateful for everyone who speaks out, acts out, or otherwise refuses to accept or believe in inequality and inequity.
3. I’m grateful for my own passion, and the words to express how tired I am of the rewriting of history, and stifling of voices.
4. I’m grateful for another day to live, love, write, hug, dance, and breathe air that can, and will be available in fair measure to all.
5. I’m grateful for abundance; love, equity, friendship, outspokenness unsanitized history, compassion, kindness, support, hope, harmony, peace, coexistence, health, philanthropy, and prosperity.

Namaste

 

About the Author

Sheri Conaway is a Holistic Ghostwriter, and an advocate for cats and mental health. Sheri believes in the Laws of Attraction, but only if you are a participant rather than just an observer. Her mission is to Make Vulnerable Beautiful and help entrepreneurs touch the souls of their readers and clients so they can increase their impact and their income.

If you’d like to have her write for you, please visit her Hire Me page for more information. You can also find her on Facebook as Sheri Levenstein-Conaway Author